Badges?...I don't need no stinkin badges! (Wisdom of God Pt. 2)

For a long time I have been kind of proud of my stick to it attitude, never wavering persistence, and the ability to get up in the morning and pull my self up by my bootstraps.
I have wore it like a badge actually.
The crazy part is that people think this is a good quality to have and will chastise me for navel gazing.
Mock all you want, but seriously, me wearing that badge does not bear good fruit.
Point of contention.
Self reliance..
Webster defines the word contention as-"  a heated disagreement or an assertion, one especially maintained in argument."
So another words, I disagree with what God says.
Why?...because each and every time I stubbornly argue the validity of denying myself and taking up my cross.
THE WISDOM OF GOD in all this is the Lord's patience.
He waits patiently for us to come to the end of ourselves and to surrender our will, our heart to Him.
To rely upon Him.
I heard this quote awhile back, and it struck me like a lightening bolt..
God will remove Everything that Hinders Love
It is actually His Wisdom.
He really is able to work all things together for our good.
Even when I argue, even when I don't like it, and especially when I can not find the silver lining.
My love for Him is hindered when I don't agree with what He says about anything!
In His patience He knows what I am made of, knows my weakness, knows me inside and out.
He knows what it takes to get to my heart.
It may just take everything that Hinders Love.
So I am officially turning in my badge.

Wisdom of God

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As a Wise Pilgrim, I admittedly have failed miserably.
Wisdom from God and wisdom from men are two different things, but they often seem indistinguishable.
I say that very flippantly, but it is true.
If you are a person who has been endowed with common sense, have life experience under your belt and maybe a decent foundation to base your decisions on, you can easily think the wisdom of man is the wisdom of God.
I recently had some hands on time with this.
Those of you who are following me know what my life has looked like since this last February.
Tough times, tough decisions, and some serious wrestling with the Almighty that have often left me questioning every aspect of my journey.
Demanding an answer to the why and how of it all only made the issue more difficult which resulted in falling back on my own wisdom once again.
There were those who thought they were helping, kept telling me how awesome I am and  really don't deserve this. How could this be God's will for me when I have lived my life so well.
I really felt kind of like Job and his friends.
All of them meant well, but in the end no one could help me see the wisdom of God in all this.
Dying to your self, is hard.
Anyone who says different is a liar.
Thank God for His Holy Spirit, who woke me in the night with songs I had forgotten about it.
It was those songs that said  yes, this stuff is hard and yep there is a point to it all!
Self reliance vs reliance on the Lord himself is the struggle, the bottom line.
It is His Wisdom that has shed light on this point of contention.
If we are going to be People of the Way, the Sojourning Pilgrims we say we are, we have to get this down.
Get it down in this Age, in the right now where the rubber hits the road.
If we really believe that God is good and works everything for our good, then we have to believe that even in the hardest times we are in His hands and it is His Wisdom that is going to get us through.

Audrey Assad Good to Me